Senior Software Engineer Category Labs · United States $180k - $250k USD

Rustify; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Category Labs is hiring a Senior Software Engineer to research, design, and build core improvements to the Monad protocol. You will work on distributed algorithms, cryptography, and consensus mechanisms within a small, high-performing team.

The role emphasizes building core components from scratch in C++ or Rust and requires experience with distributed systems or blockchain engineering. Hybrid work in the United States is supported.

Qualifications

• Experience in distributed systems or blockchain engineering.
• Ability to design and implement core protocol improvements.
• Proficient in C++ or Rust.
• Strong problem-solving and performance focus.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement core improvements to the consensus mechanism, gossip protocol, and state synchronization.
• Devise experiments to test worst-case scenarios and iterate on design results.
• Consider interactions with rollups, bridges, or staking systems in component design.
• Build performant system components from scratch in C++ or Rust.

Skills

Distributed algorithms

Cryptography

Consensus mechanisms

Distributed systems

Blockchain engineering

Tools

C++

Rust

Job description

# Senior Software EngineerCategory Labs · United States · Senior · Hybrid · USD 180k - USD 250kView & Apply## About Category Labs**Category Labs** (formerly known as Monad Labs) is a team of systems engineers and researchers on a mission to design and build at the frontier of decentralized technology. We strive to deliver significant improvements over existing blockchain solutions. After raising $225M in series A funding, led by Paradigm, we are growing our team.We’re the team behind Monad, a high-performance, EVM-compatible Layer 1 whose public mainnet is now live. We write the core software that runs it: a parallel-execution EVM, a custom state database, and a BFT consensus client, all developed in the open.## About the RoleWe’re hiring a Senior Software Engineer to research, design, and build core improvements to the Monad protocol. Your work will involve distributed algorithms, cryptography, and consensus mechanisms. You’ll draw on previous experience in distributed systems or blockchain engineering, and work as a vital member of a small, high-performing team.## Key Responsibilities:* Design and implement core improvements to the consensus mechanism, gossip protocol, state synchronization algorithm, leader election protocol, etc.* Devise experiments to test worst-case scenarios, and iterate on your design based on the results.* Design components while taking into account the behavior of other blockchain systems such as rollups, bridges, or staking systems.* Build performant system components from scratch in C++ or Rust.